One Cliché at a Time
Back in 2021 I hid the blog from public view, aware that posts were sporadic and we were still in those blurry pandemic days. A decision was made to simply take it down for a while and with it the pressure to add a post just because.
The ‘while’ seems to have stretched on a little longer than planned; too much time working in the business to work on it. But, in a snatched moment to delve into the analytics it seems that there is a rather direct correlation between site visits and the blog or musings as we call it. So as we live our values here we are back to blogging and musing as and when there is something to say!
As it has been a hot minute and some of you might be new around here we are jumping on a new year social trend and sharing bit about You Say Agency.
I am Emma and the mainstay of You Say Agency, although wonderfully supported by freelancers who may allow us to introduce themselves in the future. I set up the agency in Bristol over 10 years ago. Since then the agency has relocated back to my homeland of Cornwall and as I type I can see the sun setting over the cliffs of Bude, from our barn office space nestled in farmland.
I love cooking, sharing food and seemingly collect recipe books. My day starts with walking Woody the dog, then a coffee and emails before time on client strategies, delivering campaigns or meetings. Lunchtime is another walk with Mr Woody most days - before he falls asleep by my desk and evenings are taken up with book club, Parish Council duties or sewing or binge watching The Traitors.
I started my career in the NHS, working for the National Blood Service and a Heart Disease Charity before falling into school food and campaigning - working for the School Food Trust, School Food Plan and more recently School Food Matters and Food for Life.
Cause related communications is where I am happiest and when I am happy I am brilliant at what I do. Which is why You Say Agency has carved out a portfolio of clients with a cause. If you look at our Who For page you’ll see it dominated by some amazing organisations like the Soil Association, City to Sea and Food Farming and Countryside Commission.
So that is one new year cliché ticked and hopefully a bit more about what makes You Say Agency tick.
Till next time
Emma
Time to take stock
With more time on our hands recently, it gave us time to reflect on YouSay Agency brand and offer. Created in 2013 as YouSayISayWeSay we soon became YouSay Agency. As much as Emma, our founder, has instilled the essence of the original name - which was created to encompass the ethos that the team want to tell stories and paint pictures for our clients: You Say… I Say… We Say - we realised it was a bit of a tongue twister, long email handle and could perhaps be refined.
Our original brand
Each layer was a separate function, brought together in the bubble.
So in 2016 YouSay Agency branding was created. Working with Scott from Elwood + Harvey again we kept the speech bubbles but wanted to incorporate some of Emma’s background. Scott came up with the idea of the speech bubbles being slate in a Cornish dry-stone wall. It fitted perfectly and a decision was made to keep the original brand colour palette of hot pink, burnt yellow and tomato red.
Refining the proposition
Staying true to the original brand.
Having moved back to the rugged North Cornwall coast in late 2018 Emma felt her brand and business had evolved again. Making a concerted effort to work with clients who had similar values, who cared about and protected our environment and who had a positive impact on our planet she felt it was time to move away from the hot bright colours and update the brand palette with hues of the ocean, the slate cliffs and storm clouds of Cornwall.
The 2020 update
Inspired by Cornwall
A Cornish dry-stone wall reimagined by Scott at Elwood+Harvey
We would love to hear what you think!
A boat in a storm
Emma here, just wanted to check-in and say hi.
It’s been a busy, bumpy and bruising six months for our agency as it has for everyone. Steadying the ship and battening down the hatches has been our mainstay and I think we weathered the storm well. I read something that really spoke to me during Lockdown. Ripples started appearing in February as the festival world began to take stock.
We aren’t all in the same boat but we are all battling the same storm
Yes we lost work, we lost clients for whom Covid was the last thing to hit them after months of roadworks, bad weather and a turn away from the high-street. Festivals were postponed, events were cancelled and the phone stopped ringing.
Then, slowly but very definitely surely amazing clients picked themselves up and in recent weeks we’ve been amazed at the creativity and adaptability of people we work alongside.
I have an office up the coast in Bude, which closed its doors in March so a hurried office was created in the attic.
Woody the office dog checking out the office
I am delighted to be back in the office a couple of days a week now - I think Woody is enjoying the peace and quiet again.
Merry Autumn...
If you could see my office at the moment you might be forgiven for thinking I had gotten into the Christmas spirit far too early. There’s a pile of fairy lights in one corner, there’s decorations and table mats in another, my desk is groaning under platters and bread boards.
No, I haven’t lost my mind, it is just the world of a PR. Christmas comes early. In reality I started thinking about it in August and did my first styling shoot in September.
Art directing a client shoot
Christmas in July is a ‘thing’ in the world of influencers and glossy magazines as all the big features, samples being ‘called in’ and themes have to be decided. It’s not just Christmas that comes early in the world of PR and Marketing Easter was started in November. Much like fashion shows and catwalks are a season or two ahead the world of magazines and media are too.
Behind the camera and styling too this time.
As autumn ebbs to winter and the final leaves are crunched underfoot I will be thinking of 2019 and looking at everything from the Pantone Colours, those fashion shows I mentioned earlier and lots more to get an idea of how to support my clients and help them get placement in media and with influencers for their products or service.
So you could say it is beginning to look a lot like Christmas, which was a recent shoot with Amelie’s Events and Barefoot Media - Sam knows how to style a table!
The stunning Orangery at Port Eliot
That back to school feeling.
Does anyone else buy new notebooks and pens in September?
It is shaping up to be a busy autumn here at You Say Towers. We are already planning Christmas PR, offers and advertising for clients including Meat Box in Bristol. Some exciting news on Meat Box deliveries due soon too.
The weather has been kind so far in September, lots of walks with the pooch and almost ‘new term’ planning going on as we stomp the North Cornwall coastal path.
We also have two new clients which will keep us busy well into the dark autumnal nights. It also means that Gail is back on Team You Say - which always brightens even the dullest of days.
Five Minute Beach Clean at Watergate Bay
First new client win is City to Sea and the Refill campaign. As a Cornish dweller (I can say that now!) I regularly do #fiveminutebeachclean’s so it is a total honour to be working alongside the team in Bristol on the national Refill campaign this month. Watch this space for some exciting activity.
The new studio/office is nearly finished - Yippee - but in the meantime I am being sustained by Strong Adolfo’s and St Kew Farm shop! *see below.
The super tranquil Scandi haven of St Kew Farm Shop
We have also just started a PR campaign with Cheltenham College working on a poignant and humbling project honouring the 702 former pupils who died in the First World War. As the centenary of the end of the war approaches the pupils and school will be marking the event in some wonderful ways.
It’s also time to get out and about on new business work here in Cornwall. Now our new home resembles less of a Big Yellow and hopefully local businesses have more time now the tourists have drifted away I am already meeting and chatting to some brilliant businesses across Food & Drink, fashion and creative industries. If that sounds like YOU then get in touch!
Home is where the heart is
It is all change at You Say HQ. You might have noticed if you follow us on the Gram that shots of skate parks, graffiti and the Harbourside have been replaced with blue skies, sunshine and coastal paths.
You Say Agency owner and Chief Sayer Emma heralds from south Cornwall. After over 20 years away the call of the sea, of home and of family has gotten louder and louder like the crashing seas. After much planning and deliberation Emma, her Bearded one and of course Woody the dog have dropped anchor in rugged, wild north Cornwall.
For now, until everyone is settled, and all the boxes unpacked the second office is the weathered Ercol kitchen table. The original office at the inspiring and amazing Aardman remains as do wonderful and loyal clients in Bristol, Cheltenham, Somerset and London.
Ably assisted by the wonder woman who is Gail, we see this as a huge opportunity for You Say Agency; to bring our style of comms and our contacts to the far south west and, in time, add some stunning new clients to the portfolio whilst delivering top class creative comms to our current clients.
So we, well Emma, would like to take this opportunity to apologise for the blue-skies-spam for the next few months. It really is good to be home.
Dha weles!
Mulling things over
Pardon the pun... Me (Emma) and my bearded ones are on holiday. After a truly epic journey, as we hotfooted it from Bristol as the snow came thick and fast, we are holed-up in Dervaig on the Isle of Mull. With stopovers in north Cumbria and Oban it was a beautiful white-out of a journey north.
Brampton in Cumbria
I've reached a natural break in working full-time, after a six-month contract with the Brandon Trust, a learning disability charity, ended at the end of last month. It was an honour to support them with a range of consultancy services from project managing a photo shoot across several locations to media training and copy writing and advising on social media. It was also a challenging contrast to my other clients including Organic Herb Trading and Meat Box Bristol.
A rainbow view to the mainland over Mull
When running your own thing it can be hard to gain perspective and check that the direction you are going in is the direction you actually want to take. That the page on the map is the one you want. There are scores of reasons I run my own business, pitch for work, ride the rollercoaster and now and again you have to stop. Breathe. And remember what those reasons are.
So coming here - where the horizon is just so beautiful and the air is clear - has been an inspired idea. I actually have to give a shout-out to my human beard for that one as this trip has been his treat.
Life is pared down here; no mobile signal, no big city shops, no decent flat white (a girl can't have it all). But what there is gives me time to check-in on my plans for the business and what I want to achieve. I breathe slower, I walk slower, I look up more. I take pleasure in the simple beauty of my surroundings and can actually feel myself re-charging and I feel a plan coming on.
As I mentioned, I am here with both bearded ones
Woody the office dog
I'll sign off, and go and check the supper with this beautiful poem:
“Isle of Mull, Scotland”
BY
Because by now we know everything is not so green elsewhere. The cities tied their nooses around our necks, we let them without even seeing. Not even feeling our breath soften as clumps of shed wool scattered across days. Not even. This even-ing, balance beam of light on green, the widely lifted land, resonance of moor winding down to water, the full of it. Days of cows and sheep bending their heads. We walked where the ancient pier juts into the sea. Stood on the rim of the pool, by the circle of black boulders. No one saw we were there and everyone who had ever been there stood silently in air. Where else do we ever have to go, and why?
Content is king (and queen)
With less, and smaller print media coupled with fewer people purchasing newspapers and magazines it is all about quality & varied content to get your product or service out to people.
Not only are print opportunities sometimes harder to come social media algorithms change as fast as the weather on the Cornish coast, or so it seems. Which is why at You Say Agency we are working hard to make sure we are on top of the best ways to share across multiple platforms and we also ensure we can offer affordable solutions. Meaning we produce a great deal of graphics, video and imagery in-house to help build thought provoking and memorable campaigns.
We also work with amazing photographers to produce high quality imagery for print and press use as there is still very much a need for professional photography and styling. The same is also very much true for graphic designers and we work with a couple we trust but we also know our way around Canva and Lightroom.
This year Emma has been on several courses to keep social skills honed including courses from Matt Inwood on Instagram. At Abergavenny Food Festival Emma went to a fabulous course by photographer Kirstie Young and stylist Genevieve Taylor
Emma loves rummaging around antique markets and bric-a-brac shops, especially when she is in France and searching out props, linens and backgrounds. She also invested in an Olympus Pen camera so the content You Say Agency is producing is great quality and fresh content. Check out Meat Box, Le Manoir de Valentine and Veals for three channels we currently manage.
Keeping on keeping on
2017 was a busy year. The business grew, we worked with some amazing freelancers, such as Gail Painter and Holly Black, who helped Emma pitch for and win some large accounts like Box Steam Brewery.
We were too busy to blog sometimes too. Always the way in a small business when you are focused on clients. Too busy in the business to work on it!
Business wise it felt like a strange year at the start, post Brexit and election things felt unsure and perhaps some prospective clients were cautious. Certainly as the year ended although there still wasn't certainty the PR world felt busier.
One highlight was getting to know our fellow PRs in Bristol. From launching Meat Box, a high welfare butchers in Wapping Wharf to working with the Soil Association it has been a pleasure to get support from the likes of Pam Lloyd and Caroline Peel along with Duchess Media and many more besides.
Full Steam Ahead!
A quick update to round of June as it has been a super-busy month. Just how we like it.
Emma is still working alongside the Soil Association Press Office and has had a busy month placing Farming Today stories, launching the Green Kitchen Standard and much more!
Alongside that it was the 10th birthday of School Food Matters, an amazing charity that punches well above its weight and supports schools directly in a hands-on way to make sure good food & food education is available in schools.
And we are ending the month on a high as we have added a fantastic new client in Box Steam Brewery to our roster! It really will be full steam ahead as we support them with full-service comms across Press, Social and Events.
Tickets please!
Please Sir - can I have some more?
I've seen a lot of social comments about the Conservative Party Manifesto announcement to scrap universal school meals and a lot of the people giving that idea a 'Like' or 'thumbs-up' emoticon have reasoned that unless families can't afford to pay then the meals shouldn't be free. It just isn't that simple for many reasons and yes it is far more complex than a financial decision:
- For one it makes a level playing field and massively increases the uptake of school meals from said low-income families.
- It removes stigma and supports equality.
- Being able to afford something doesn't mean someone will pay for a meal if given a choice as it is perceived that school meals are more costly than packed lunches (especially when a family has two or three children to feed).
- Continuing on from that if there is a level of control over what children eat for the first three years of school there is a chance to influence choices for future, expand foods tried and acceptance of different foods and get away from a cheese sandwich and apple.
- We can't get away from the fact that kids are leaving school obese and ending up with Type II Diabetes and we need to tackle that now as our NHS cannot cope with all the health issues bad food creates. Free school meals are an integral part of that mission.
- Oh and children are now learning better and performing better as a result of the changes in school food from processed food and junk.
- Finally catering is expensive and that financial infrastructure from free school meals supported kitchens, equipment and investment.
I've managed Comms and PR for school food charities and NGOs for over a decade, I worked for the School Food Trust just after the Turkey Twizzler outcry and I am sad to say it isn't fixed yet but we have come so far and all that effort, all that time, all that investment could all be thrown out with the food waste if the Conservatives get their way. It is a shortsighted money grab that will come home to roost if acted on.
I now work with charities such as School Food Matters and Countryside Classroom and good food from growing to cooking and eating is shining out across schools.
Please sir - let them have more!
As Jamie said - this is the biggest restaurant on the planet - https://www.channel4.com/news/jamie-oliver-frustrated-over-conservatives-school-lunches-plan
The best things in life aren't always free...
I have to disagree with Coco Chanel - which is a tough thing to do - but I have come across a couple of situations recently when people have asked for creative services for free. That's not cool!
First there was the Facebook post from a well-known local blogger who was on one-hand celebrating how she had grown her blog and YouTube followers to a stunning number (high five girl!) but on the other asking for a videographer to work with her to film more footage for said successful blog but 'ideally I would not want to pay so if you were up-and-coming and needed the exposure then great'. Erm no - not great, not cool.
Then there are the emails and calls I get now and again asking for a 'quick press release' or 'short list of journalists'... but oh by the way we don't actually have a budget so would you do it as a favour and we'll think of you when we next pitch, again very not cool. That's my bread and butter, my USP and my skill. Please don't devalue it or the role I do. The same can be said for all creative businesses - don't ask an illustrator for a quick sketch pro bono or tell a graphic designer it would be great for their portfolio.
We are skilled people who continually invest in our professional development. If you agree a skill swap or come to an agreement to shout someone lunch or a crate of beer and it is a collaborative decision then great go right ahead but don't put someone on the spot and suggest that if you don't have a skill to swap and it was an ask rather than a mutual decision.
Look at it this way; would you call a brick layer and ask them to just throw a wall up for free or would you ask a dentist to fix a filling to get experience? No? Sure? Then please don't ask it of creatives.
Wear sunscreen
No, this isn't a public health announcement! For those of you who are 'of a certain age' you'll remember this as a song from Baz Luhrmann. The full title being "Everyone's free to wear sunscreen." Apparently Baz can't take all the credit - it originated from a newspaper column from the Chicago Tribune.
So why am I writing about this song you ask? Good question.
This week it is also apparently international happiness day - it was on a Monday of all days and that was also the day I coincidentally created a new playlist called sunshine. Full of tracks from Happy by Pharrell to The Bare Necessities from the Jungle Book it is bursting with upbeat, happy tracks that even Scrooge would have trouble not crackin' a smile at. Music is something that really influences my mood. I can tap into that; if I need to focus then it's a bit of Beethoven's Moonlit Sonata or if I need to crack on with the to-do list then it's Basement Jaxx!
I don't know about you but I find the start of the year a bit of a slog. It is dark - so very dark. I have tax returns, business insurances and all sorts of renewals to get done and the days seem so long. Music is one of the things that can lift my mood in an instant, hence the title of the post as this track can transport me back to University, long sunny days and in turn can make the day brighter - it's timeless advice too - perhaps I should leave off the pink hair dye sometime soon?
I for one am welcoming the Spring Equinox and the appearance of blossom and daffodils.
Should you be interested the playlist is here: SUNSHINE
A resolution to no resolutions.
It is the first week back here at You Say offices. Nice to be back walking past Shaun, Gromit and the gang every day - you know we are based at Aardman right?
This year I've made a resolution to have no resolutions.
It isn't the first year I've decided that to be honest but it felt good so I am repeating it. However it is a new year to focus on things I like and I am good at, perhaps moving away from the things I don't like whilst accepting that we can't all be good at everything. But it is all about perspective and the way we look at things.
As a business owner, of a micro or boutique comms agency, it is tempting to say YES I can do that or YES I want to do that - even when I might be groaning on the inside. But this year we are possibly going to say YES a little less or YES we can bring someone in who can do that under our agency but that isn't ME.
I now work with a couple of A-MA-ZING freelancers, it has taken a while to find the right ones as I need to get on with them but I have realised that I also need people with different skills and likes in the PR-mix than me.
I might appear silly saying I can't ace every aspect of PR but personally I think it is a strong thing to see your skills and fill the weaknesses. Don't misunderstand me; I will continue CPD and learning but as a business owner I need to focus on running the business, managing clients and enjoying what I do. I can't be all things to all people. Well, I can, but I run the risk of not doing things to the best of my ability.
So 2017 will find You Say Agency expanding our regular freelance portfolio, looking at adding a junior member of the team and sometimes saying NO. But doing it to be the best we can.
Happy New Year!
Another year over...
What a year huh.
I don't often comment on world events, it isn't what this blog is for. However as we get ready to shut the office for Christmas I can't help but wonder in years to come how this year will be documented in the history books. It feels quite momentous.
Sadly, unlike the John Lennon lyric and inspiration for the title of this blog the war isn't over and as a business owner I enter a new year wondering what 2017 will bring.
At a local level all is good, business is thriving and I am enjoying steering good ship You Say. I have ended the year feeling proud of what we achieved this year, who we have chosen to work with and in the last couple of months I have felt hugely energised and supported by fellow PRs both freelance and agencies. Bristol is building a fantastic high-quality PR service and I am honoured to be part of it.
I was in Italy on a food and research trip when the UK voted for Brexit and I am still saddened that the majority of my country felt so disenfranchised and switched-off to Europe or were using the vote to try and have a say about our country right now that they felt a connection with Brexit and would rather vote for something with no plan and no strategy than try and change something. As a small business owner I am concerned about what it means for taxes, opportunities to offer my services in Europe and for trade. But more than that I am saddened that we don't feel stronger, better connected and safer with our European neighbours.
So as 2016 draws to a close and 2017 is on the horizon with the ongoing saga on Brexit and the 30 day countdown to President Trump I am going to continue to look forward and find the silver lining.
A very Merry Xmas
And a happy New Year
Let's hope it's a good one
Without any fear